


.::The War on Falling Stars Chapter 9::. All Gone, No Escape

by Antigravity_Carnivore



Series: The War on Falling Stars [8]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), Poets of the Fall, Project Vela (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst and Feels, Character Death, Covert Operation, Drug Use, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Far Future, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Gay, Gay Male Character, Government Conspiracy, Government Experimentation, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, New West, Prox - Freeform, Science Fiction, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26162029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigravity_Carnivore/pseuds/Antigravity_Carnivore
Summary: Scott and Travis head out to try and discover where New West is keeping Caden and get involved in something that is bigger than the both of them. Trapped, and running out of time, a terrible secret is revealed which will irrevocably change their lives. Back on Prox, Dustin wakes up to find that he is not alone in the Shallow Bay and that he now is in a position of power. Will he choose to do the right thing, or let his own selfish emotions control him?
Relationships: Benjamin Burnley/Original Character(s), Dustin Bates/Benjamin Burnley, Dustin Bates/Brock Richards, Dustin Bates/Original Character(s), Thomas Bell/Benjamin Burnley
Series: The War on Falling Stars [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1322462
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	.::The War on Falling Stars Chapter 9::. All Gone, No Escape

**Author's Note:**

> So if anyone has noticed, I have broken with the tradition of naming my chapters after Project Vela songs. It was my full intention of keeping up with the albums, but sometimes the title of the song wouldn’t go with what was actually happening in the story, so I decided to change it to reflect more on the story itself. I will still keep with the song titles for the chapters, because I am usually fixated on a song when I write. This one is no exception. If you know it, you know it. Heh. I use music to create a feeling and mood for a chapter. I hope that you will seek out the songs (and music) I’ve used and get inspiration for them. I know I have. 
> 
> Also—a new character is introduced in this chapter. As of this writing, who he is remains a mystery. I left out specific details on him, because quite honestly, his identity is unknown, even to me at this point. I don’t sit down and write with a plan; I am literally watching the story unfold in my head just as you are reading. That being said, I want to assure you, gentle reader that this mysterious man will soon be identified in a upcoming chapter. 
> 
> I want everyone to stay safe out there in the great big world, and always respect others. Peace.

The car engine roared loudly as it proceeded down the empty road, in the middle of the night. Doing his best to avoid the highway and highly populated areas, Travis kept his eyes fixated on the path ahead of him, choosing to ignore the disgruntled sighs of Scott sitting next to him. They stopped speaking to one another hours ago, which Travis was incredibly grateful for. It gave him a little peace and quiet to try to sort things out in his head and let the throbbing pain in the back of his skull ease up for a bit. This wasn’t how he wanted things to go. He wanted to go back to Scott and forget everything that happened on Prox and New West, and just start all over again. He had finally found happiness with his new family and so desperately wanted it all back, but deep inside, he knew that things could never go back to the way they were before. Caden, Travis’s son had driven a permanent wedge between him and Scott, one that was growing wider by the moment with the silence between them. The memories of the little boy that called him father refused to come back, but the feelings were still there, and trying to convince Scott that the boy was even real wasn’t working. Back on Prox, Travis told Ember that when he returned home, that he would make them a real family, and ask Scott to marry him, but now, everything was messed up, and putting distance between him and the man that he loved seemed to be the way to go now.

A patch of heavy fog rolled in out of nowhere, covering the road and forcing Travis to slow down. Cursing underneath his breath, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and lifted his foot off the accelerator and switched on the high beams for a moment. The lights flooded the tall standing trees which were towering over the van but did nothing to help him see the road ahead. Sitting back against his seat, Travis let out a sigh and slammed his palms against the steering wheel.

Scott cringed and decided that it was time to break the silence. “Travis, let me give you a break. You’ve been driving for hours now and must be exhausted. You still haven’t told me exactly where we are going, but I am sure that I can get us there. Look at you, you’re a mess.”

“No.” Travis mumbled. “I’m fine. We’re going to the New West base where I was held. I have to get Caden back, I know they have him there. I can’t waste one more minute. We have to keep moving.” Biting his bottom lip, Travis continued onward into the darkness, his eyes were strained, and his muscles were growing more and more tense with each passing mile. The truth was that he didn’t know where they were heading. He had no memory of leaving the New West base. He was blindfolded and driven to a remote area next to a highway and released, tossed out like some annoying dog the owner was anxious to get rid of. His only possessions were a bag full of pre-filled syringes and a scrap of paper with a name of a doctor on it. After reuniting with Scott, and discovering that New West had his son, Travis needed to be on the road. Not quite sure knowing where he was going, he was hoping that muscle memory would kick in and somehow he would find his way back, but the hours of driving in the darkness weren’t doing anything but causing him anxiety and annoying Scott. The device which New West had implanted in his head wasn’t making things any easier either. Occasionally, Travis would start to have severe headaches, his vision would blur and reality as he knew it became twisted and distorted. He would have to stop to give himself an injection and wait for the symptoms to go away before they could start moving again, and he felt like he was becoming a burden, but still he pressed on.

Through all of it, Scott hadn’t said much. As they left the hotel, he tried asking Travis about Ember and Prox, wanting to know about their time together, but Travis was in no mood for reminiscing and cut Scott off with a stern stare and a pitiful excuse about memory loss. Deep inside, Travis felt bad for keeping Scott in the dark, but it was for a good reason, he was afraid.

“Travis…”

“Look Scott, I don’t feel like discussing this any further, okay? If you want out of this, just say the word and I will pull over and let you out. I know that you’re already pissed off at me, and I can’t make you stay, but I need to get through this and see it to the end. Whether that’s with or without you, that’s up to you. That’s all I have to say.” He glanced over to Scott, and he noticed that his eyes were wide, and he was staring straight ahead. “What? Nothing to say?”

“Travis! Travis! Stop!” He shouted.

Turning his attention back to the road, the fog parted for a moment and Travis saw the figure of a woman standing only a short distance away looking back at him. Slamming his foot on the brake, Travis and Scott were pitched forward as the tires screeched on the wet pavement and the vehicle skidded forward, sliding closer to the woman. Wrenching the wheel to the right as a last-ditch effort to keep from hitting her, Travis brought the van off the road and onto the gravel berm. The tires kicked up tiny stones, sending them flying into different directions as the dirt and rocks absorbed the forward velocity of the van and it finally came to a stop. Scott was the first one to recover. He sat back in his seat and grabbed for Travis who was slumped over the steering wheel. “Hey, Travis… wake up. Wake up, please!” Slightly shaking his body, Scott breathed a sigh of relief as Travis opened his eyes and leaned back.

“Dear fucking god, that was close.” Travis said, gingerly touching a slight bump on his forehead. “Was that… a person standing in the road?”

Scott had already grabbed a flashlight and was out the door before Travis could finish with this question. He went around behind the back of the van and saw something in the middle of the road. At first, he thought that it was just a pile of clothing, but as he slowly approached it, he could now clearly see that it was a woman with long blond hair, wearing a pair of blue scrubs, huddled up in a ball, cringing from the light. Cautiously, he bent down next to her. “Hey, are you hurt, what are you doing out here? You could have been killed!” Behind him, he heard the driver’s door open and close, then Travis’s footsteps behind him. The woman looked up with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I need to get to the hospital.”

“Alright, we can take you there, are you injured? Where are you hurt? Let me take a look at you.” Reaching out, Scott tried to gently grasp her arm, but the minute he touched her, she drew away. “Okay okay, we will do it your way. Can you stand?”

“I need to get to the hospital.” She repeated.

Travis came up behind Scott. “What’s wrong with her? Did I hit her?”

Scott stood back up. “No, I don’t think so, but I am pretty sure that there’s something wrong with her. Look at her clothing. She’s wearing hospital scrubs, and she wants to go to the hospital.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Scott brought up a map. “Looks like there’s one just a few miles in that direction. It’s only a short distance away, we can take her there and get back on the road in no time.” He glanced over to Travis. “I know what you’re going to say… you’re going to argue that we don’t have time to take her where she wants to go. Now, I agreed to help you find Caden and bring him home, at whatever cost, and I haven’t done anything so far to stand in your way… as a matter of fact, so far I think that I’ve been pretty damn supportive of you this far. I haven’t complained, or said a word against you or your decisions, so I think you owe me that much. This woman is in obvious distress. You’re all about saving the life of your son, and Ember, but right now, this is an innocent life that needs saving RIGHT NOW. Nothing is going to happen to Caden or Ember if we take 20 goddamn minutes out of our destination to nowhere and help her.” Scott noticed Travis turn pale as a guilty look came across his face. He knew that Scott was on to him now, that he didn’t know where he was driving to. Reaching out, Scott took hold of his hand. “Hey… it’s alright. I am here for you. I told you that I wouldn’t leave you no matter what. Ember and Caden are out there, we will find them, together.”

The pain and unease in Travis’s head subsided and the growing tension between the two men started to melt away. “I am sorry.” He whispered. “I didn’t mean to treat you so badly or ignore you… it’s this thing in my head. It makes me feel things so differently. I need to get rid of it… but I need to get Caden back. I am so sorry for dragging you into this mess. You are too good for me.”

Scott let go of Travis's hand and gave him a serious look. “We can’t keep doing this… going back and forth between loving one another to long periods of silence. It hurts, Travis, it really does… I don’t honestly know how many times I can go through this and come out unscathed. When you’re always pushing on something, eventually it’s going to break. Please, keep talking to me, don’t shut me out again okay?” Flashing is light back down to the ground; Scott watched the woman in front of him struggle to her feet. “Let’s concentrate on one thing at a time… like getting this woman to where she needs to go. We’ll figure out the rest of that afterwards. Come on.”

As the woman turned around to face the men, they could see that her light blue scrubs were covered in mud and dirt, and there were bits of tree branches twisted in the length of her blond hair. She was not wearing shoes, and her feet were cut and scratched, smeared with dried blood from the multitude of scratches running over her bare skin. Travis got in the van and started it back up, as Scott led her over to the passenger side door and opened it up for her. She looked up at him with a shocked expression. He smiled at her. “You can ride up in the front with Travis. It’s warmer up there.”

Doing as she was told, the woman climbed up and sat in the passenger seat as Scott closed the door and jumped in the back. He glanced at his phone again, giving directions to Travis and they were off. Soon, the fog lifted and the traveling got a little easier. As they drove, Scott looked over at the woman, who kept her head bent down, letting her blond hair fall in front of her face, and had her hands neatly folded in her lap. He noted that her nails were perfectly manicured and that her skin, aside from being pale and bruised in a few places was flawless and well cared for. Clearly, she wasn’t a vagrant. He wanted to talk to her, to question her and find out what her situation was, but was fearful that he might upset her, and chose to remain silent instead. He didn’t want to spook her or upset her more than she already was. He was shocked when suddenly Travis spoke up.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” He asked, glancing over at her. “Did someone hurt you?”

She mumbled. “I have to go to the hospital.”

“That’s where we’re going right now.” Travis said flatly. Scott noticed a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. “Are you a patient there or something?”

The woman remained silent for a long time. Crossing her hand over, Travis could see that she was twisting a small golden band around her finger. It was a wedding ring. A single tear dripped down and splashed on the back of her hand. “My husband. He’s there. They told me he’s dead, but I refused to believe it… I sent friends there to check for me, only… they haven’t come back. I wanted to go see for myself, but they wouldn’t let me. So, I escaped.”

Scott leaned forward. “Someone was keeping you against your will? Travis… I think that we need to go to the police first. This is serious.”

Shaking her head furiously, the woman looked at Travis with wide eyes. “NO! Don’t do that. I need to go to the hospital please. Something is happening. The people who are supposed to be in charge, aren’t anymore. Everything is changing. New West is taking over.”

Travis suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing the woman and Scott to pitch forward slightly. As she fell back against her seat, Travis reached over and grabbed her by her arms. “What do you know about New West? Are you working for them? Do you know where their base is? I need to know everything that you know or have seen right now.”

“Travis, calm down!” Scott snapped from the back of the van. “You're hurting her.”

“No! She knows something! Possibly where Caden is. She’s our first lead.” Travis shook her violently and she let out a small scream. “Tell me!”

Pushing his way through the small gap between the seats, Scott took hold of Travis’s arms and pried them from the woman. She wiggled free from him and tried to open the door but found that it was locked. Using her fists, she started pounding on the window.

Scott awkwardly pushed Travis back toward the driver’s door and held him there. Using his weight as an advantage, Scott refused to let him go. “Hey! What the hell are you doing? Snap out of it!” A few anxious moments passed, and finally Scott saw reason return to Travis again. He relaxed and finally Scott released his grip on him. “Get out of the van right now.”

Unlocking the door, Travis stepped outside, and Scott quickly followed. The woman in the passenger seat also calmed down and had resigned herself to resting her head against the window with her eyes closed. It had begun to rain now, and it was coming down in steady sheets, pattering against the pavement with a unrelenting force. Travis met Scott around the front of the vehicle, both men were completely soaked now from standing outside for a few moments. “I am losing it Scott. Those injections aren’t helping anymore. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. I think the implant in my head is malfunctioning or New West is doing something to it to make me go insane.”

“I don’t want to agree with you, in this case I am. I’ve never seen you lose your temper like that before.” The rain poured down, getting into Scott’s eyes. He made a feeble attempt at trying to wipe it away, but it was of no use. “When we get to the hospital, I want you to get looked at.” Travis started to say something, but Scott cut him off. “Look… it started off with you having problems distinguishing between reality and fantasy, then the mood swings came, and the irritation and anxiety… now you’re becoming violent. This is only getting worse. What is the next step? Are you going to act out and hurt me? We can’t let this go on anymore. You can’t save Caden or Ember if you’re like this. All I am asking is that you take a few minutes and go get looked at. I will stay with the woman until she finds her husband and then the three of us can talk this out, find out what she knows about New West.”

Pulling the keys to the van out of his pocket, he handed them to Scott. “I’ll be okay. I’ll take another injection and go lay down in the back until we get to the hospital. Let me sleep it off.”

Snatching the keys away from Travis, Scott eyed him suspiciously. “How many of those injections have you had today so far since we started out[?” He asked.

Shrugging, Travis pulled the hood from his hoodie up over his head. “A few.”

“Just tell me, Travis.” Scott sighed.

“Eighteen.” Travis said quietly. Pushing past Scott, Travis opened the side door of the van and slid in. Over the sound of the rain, Scott heard him unzip his backpack and start to rummage through it. A few seconds later, he could see the shadowy figure of Travis through the window, reclining against the seats and falling into a fitful sleep. Scott breathed a sigh of relief and climbed into the driver’s seat. He put the keys in the ignition but didn’t start it yet. He turned toward the blond woman who was now totally entranced in the droplets of rain slowly trickling down the window. “What’s your name?” He asked quietly.

Turning to face him, the woman pushed the hair away from her face and straightened up a bit, almost as if she was used to introducing herself frequently. “Rhiannon.”

Scott started the van. He glanced back to see that Travis was already asleep. There were strained lines on his face, but for the moment he was unconscious. “Rhiannon, you will have to forgive Travis back there, he’s… sick.” Putting the vehicle in drive, he pulled back out onto the road and continued the trek towards the hospital.

Rhiannon turned backwards for a moment and stared at Travis in the back. His face had strained lines on it and he was in the middle of a fitful sleep. “What did New West do to him?” She asked quietly.

Not taking his eyes off the road, Scott forced himself to remain focused. The rain had soaked into his clothes, and he was freezing cold and shivering. He turned up the temperature a little more. “I don’t know exactly, he doesn’t want to talk about it, but I think they tortured him, and put some device in his head to control him. I don’t quite understand why, but they want it back now, so they kidnapped his son… or so Travis believes, in effort to get him to turn himself in.”

“You don’t trust him.” Rhiannon said turning back around and looking at Scott curiously. “The look on your face shows that you want to believe, but the tone in your voice gives it away. You don’t really think he’s telling you the truth.”

“I am not sure what to believe anymore. He’s having a hard time distinguishing reality from fiction. Last night, we were together, and he was good, I mean really, really good. Like he was his old self again, and then he went out and said that he followed a man into an alleyway who had massive black wings and then just vanished in front of him. That’s not a normal everyday occurrence. The next thing I know, he’s babbling on about a son that New West took from him… a son that either of us didn’t know he had. I kept thinking about it all day, the kid... just a toddler, no more than a few years old. I’ve known Travis for years, I know everything about him, even before we officially met. We did the whole online thing for a long time, if he came home and had a bad day, or if something was bothering him, he’d tell me about it. Never once did he ever mention a girlfriend, or even just a casual encounter. To be honest, I didn’t even think that he was women. It’s completely out of character for him. He’s a shy introvert, who has problems getting close to people. Hell, it took him a long time to admit he had any sort of feelings for me. I know him, I know Travis. This… this isn’t him.” Scott frowned. “I love him so much, and I want to help him in whatever way I can. My daughter is missing too, and I want to find her, but Travis… he’s got things all jumbled up in his head and the only thing I can blame it on is the implant that is tucked away in his brain. Chasing after New West is a mistake. If we can find this contact person that he was talking about, get that thing out of his head, he will see things clearly, and know that we’re going in the wrong direction. We need to be running away from New West, not heading towards them.”

“I barely got away from them myself.” Reaching up, Rhiannon pushed the hair away from the side of her face, just as Scott glanced over. He could see that there was an incision site on her left temple that was still fresh and slightly bleeding. At first glance, he thought it was just a scratch from a tree branch which she had accidentally run into during her escape, but now he could see how perfectly straight and precise the incision was. “They came in and took control of the psychiatric ward where I was staying all at once. They grabbed patients and sedated them, everyone was screaming, and one by one started using them as Guinea pigs, putting those implants in their heads without their permission. I saw the other peaceful patients whom I had known for months turn into raving lunatics, and others just completely disconnect from reality and drop over, dead. The doctors on staff were gone…they just disappeared, and no one could stop it. I was scheduled to go next, they prepped me and everything, but thanks to a friend… I got out before they could put that fucking thing inside me. I ran… and that’s when you found me.” She looked over to Scott with a haunted, fearful look in her eyes. It was the same look that he saw when they found her in the road. “I… I… think that they killed my husband and are responsible for my son’s disappearance.” Rhiannon crossed her arms over her chest and tried to warm the bare skin of her arms with her hands. “A lot of children have gone missing.”

Listening to Rhiannon’s story brought Scott’s anxiety to a whole new level. The hands that were holding onto the steering wheel were starting to shake, and the chill that now ran down his spine wasn’t from his damp clothing. “What could New West want with kids?”

“I wish I knew. My son vanished off a beach near my house a year ago. He knew that area. My husband would often take him for walks down by the water. He didn’t get lost or wander off. Someone took his hand and led him away… I tried to find him, but it was impossible. I looked everywhere, I didn’t sleep, or eat, I just kept looking. I knew that he had to be out there, waiting for me… When my friend’s son disappeared shortly after, it made things so much worse. I felt like I had let them down, both boys… gone without a trace. I felt the darkness take me and fell into a deep depression for months.” Rhiannon tugged at the plastic hospital identification bracelet still attached to her wrist. “My friends… they stepped in and got me help. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now.”

Scott’s heart went out to the woman next to him. Hearing her story made him want to help her even more, and instantly knew that they were on the right track now. Convincing Travis to stop at the hospital to drop her off was a means to an end. It could be the temporary diversion that he needed to stop Travis from marching into the hands of New West. It was fate that put them on the road with Rhiannon, and altered their path, now it was up to Scott to make sure that he could keep going in the right direction. “You said that you sent friends to the hospital, what happened to them?” he asked her curiously.

Looking out the window, Rhiannon’s voice became distant. “I don’t know. Someone called me from the hospital, saying my husband was there… but something happened… they killed him.” Her eyes filled with tears and she struggled to speak. “Ben… he had been out of my life and gone for so long… I made a big mistake… I let something very precious go and I am paying for it… I think he left because he couldn’t bare to face me anymore… I don’t know…. it’s all so fucked up… but Benjamin, my Ben… he is wonderful, caring and loving. To think that he would appear in some random hospital and start threatening people is ridiculous!” Quickly wiping the tears out of her eyes, Rhiannon suddenly became agitated. “Anyway, they said he showed up and all hell broke loose… security was called, and someone fired a gun, and they murdered him. They killed my husband and I had to go identify the body. The doctors there wouldn’t let me leave, I don’t think it was for my own safety, I think it was because New West had already quietly started taking over and weren’t allowing anyone to leave the premises. What a better place to start a revolution than in a psychiatric hospital where everyone is nuts and no one would suspect anyway? I managed to get to a phone and called a friend of mine, Aaron and I asked if he could do it. He was going with his friend Keith and go straight away. They would find out what happened for me. He promised me that he’d be in contact with me as soon as he got there… but this was hours ago, and I haven’t heard from them since. Aaron is very responsible he never misses a call, so I know something happened.” Taking a moment to catch her breath, Rhiannon let out a soft sigh and leaned back in the seat. “If I can just get to the hospital, I am certain that I can find them and make sense of whatever is going on.” Rhiannon felt the van start to slow down and she looked over at Scott curiously. “What are you doing?”

Letting the van come to a complete stop in the middle of the deserted roadway, Scott pointed out the window straight ahead of them. A few miles away, directly ahead of them was their destination, the hospital. Upon seeing it, Rhiannon let out a gasp and slumped back in her seat. There was a massive fire raging through one of the wards, sending pillows of black noxious smoke into the air, obliterating the light from the moon far overhead. Dozens of firetrucks surrounded the area, along with police and a strangely high number of black vans which bore no markings or other identification. The road surrounding the hospital was lined with vehicles on both sides and there were tons of people scrambling madly about outside. Some had injuries from the falling debris and others were just mulling about unsure where to go. It was complete chaos. “What the actual fuck is going on here?” Scott muttered, gazing out through the window.

“It looks like an explosion.” Rhiannon answered quickly. Her hand was already on the handle of the door. “I have to get in there, I need to find my friends.” Without hesitation, she pushed it open and the moment her bare feet touched the ground, she started running up the hill towards the crowds and confusion.

Scott lunged to the side, trying to grab her arm, but all he managed to do was get hold of her plastic patient bracelet, which quickly snapped as she darted out of the van. “Son of a bitch!” He shouted and pushed his own door open, trying to cut her off, but his forgotten seat belt held him down, and he was left fussing with it while Rhiannon took off down the road.

From the back, Travis started to stir and pulled himself up and stared wide eyed at the sight before him. “What the hell is going on? Is that the hospital?”

The clasp for the seat belt finally came undone, releasing Scott from the driver’s seat and he let out a exacerbated sigh. Rhiannon was too far gone to catch up with her, and now he had Travis awake and conscious to deal with. “Yeah. I have no idea what happened up there. There’s no cellphone reception in this area right now and it looks like a war zone.”

Hopping into the passenger seat, Travis tried to shake off the effects of the injection and wake himself up. He was incredibly groggy and felt like he had been treading water for hours. Every muscle in his body was tight and achy. “Where’s the girl?”

“Rhiannon. Eh she took off towards the hospital. She’s convinced that her friends are in there. I can’t get the van any closer and the second I stopped to try and figure out a way around, she jumped right out and took off. Whatever happened up there, it can’t be good, and I was going to help her find a safer way in, but I didn’t think she’d just leave like that. Hell, she’s not even wearing shoes, it’s been raining since the sun went down, half of this road is nothing but a giant mud pit, she’s going to be damn lucky if she doesn’t fall and break a leg running around in the dark.” Leaning forward slightly, Scott tried to get a good look at Travis. The time spent asleep in the back of the van seemed to do him good. The color of his skin was almost back to normal, the dark circles under his eyes had faded, and he looked more aware, more focused on everything. It was a great relief. Scott turned the key in the ignition and started the van. The engine revved to life. He put his hand on the gear shift and asked the question that would probably determine their eventual fate. “Travis. What do you want to do here?”

Not taking his eyes off the burning building in front of him, Travis mumbled. “Hmm?”

Resting his hands on the steering wheel, Scott held his breath. “Rhiannon is gone. We came here because this is where she wanted to go. Before that, we were on our way to New West, to get Caden back. I need you to tell me where you are at and what you want to do. Do we go to the hospital to try and find help for you, or do we continue on down the road where we were going to find New West? I am only asking because I promised you that I would follow you anywhere. It’s your call from here on out.”

Travis looked at Scott with a furrowed brow. “I don’t understand what you are talking about. The plan is the same. Nothing has changed.”

Scott’s heart sank. Secretly, he wanted Travis to get the help that he needed so desperately. The mood swings going from long periods of silence to unexplained rage were coming too frequent, and even though he seemed calm now, he was fearful of another outburst. He glanced up at the hospital, and the fire, which seemed to finally be getting under control with a sad stare. Help was so close, but yet so far away. He couldn’t force it onto Travis, that would be the worst thing ever, so all he could do is keep going, and try to support the man that he loved in whatever way he had to, even if it meant putting them both in danger. “Alright. Let’s go then.” Taking hold of the gearshift, Scott started to put the car in reverse, when Travis opened his door. Confused, Scott stopped and peered at his friend, curiously. “What are you doing?”

Grabbing his backpack from the rear of the van, Travis threw it over one shoulder. “Like I said, nothing has changed. We promised that woman that we would get her to the hospital to find out what happened to her husband and her friends. Just because she took off without us doesn’t mean that we can’t help her. God only knows what is going on up there, and I don’t want to send her in there alone.” Shoving the door open with his shoulder, Travis got out of the van and looked to Scott. “Are you coming or what?”

“Yeah of course!” Scott yanked the keys out of the ignition and stepped outside. The moment his feet touched the road, they instantly began to sink into the mud. He glanced over to Travis, who had opened the side door of the van and was rummaging through the back of it, looking for something. “Hey Travis, do you think that we’re going to be able to find her once we get up there? It looks like a complete shit show from down here.”

Not paying attention to Scott’s words, Travis continued to search in the darkness for something. He leaned into the van, resting on his knees and started running his hands over every inch of the floor. He knew it was there, somewhere. A light rain started to descend on them, and Travis heard Scott mumble something about the mud becoming worse as he walked around to the side of the van to join him. Cursing underneath his breath, Travis was about to scold Scott for complaining so much when he found the object that he was looking for. Satisfied, he slid it into his pocket just as Scott joined him. He turned around and slammed the door shut, smiling at Scott, who was looking pretty pathetic with his freshly soaked red hair and shaggy beard. “She can’t have gotten very far.” He pointed down to the ground where Rhiannon’s bare footprints made indentations in the mud. “If we hurry before the rain washes it away, we can follow her tracks and see which entrance she went in.”

“Are you sure that you are ready for this?” Scott asked, blinking the rain out of his eyes for the second time tonight.

“Let’s do this.” Travis gestured forward. “Ladies first.”

“Screw you Travis.” Scott snapped. Flipping his friend off, Scott pulled a knit hat out of his pocket, shoved it on his head and started walking, following the trail of small footprints.

It took the men about an hour to make the trek from the outskirts of the interstate to the courtyard of the hospital. During that time, not a single vehicle drove by them, either coming or going to the hospital. The fire in the collapsed section had been put out, and now crews were scrambling to sort through the rubble to find any poor unfortunate soul that might have gotten caught in the wall collapse. From what they could tell, it looked like something massive had exploded out of the hospital walls, ripping apart electrical and water lines in the process. The sparking wires hanging down from the ceiling had caught drywall on fire, which in turn sent the whole ward ablaze in a matter of moments. As they approached the main reception area, Scott and Travis noticed that there were a lot of patients lining the halls, with various injuries crudely bandaged, waiting to be seen. Strangely, there were only a few nurses on the floor, attending to the people, but a lot of black clad security men lingering about, watching them intently. Scott could feel their eyes on them as they made their way to the information desk.

Travis hoisted his pack back up onto one shoulder where it had slipped down from and approached the nurse at the station. She looked extremely frazzled. “Excuse me. I am looking for someone who may have come through here in a hurry. She’s a woman in her 30’s with blond hair, wearing a ripped up hospital gown, she didn’t have any shoes on and was….”

“I am sorry. I can’t help you.” The nurse’s eyes darted around. “Our computers are down at the moment, so if you will take a seat, someone will come out and assist you.”

Travis could immediately tell that she was trying to get rid of him and wasn’t having any of it. “She’s not a patient… She’s a… friend. I think that she might be looking for her other friends. Are you sure you didn’t see her? Her hair was all messed up, and she was covered in mud and scratches.”

Standing up from her seat, the nurse adjusted her glasses and avoided eye contact with the two men. “As I said, sir. I haven’t seen anything and we’re in a bit of a crisis here, as you can see.” She raised her voice a little and two of the black clad security guards moved in a little closer. She immediately coughed and cleared her throat. “Now if you will take a seat, someone will come out to assist you.” She repeated.

Leaning on the front of the desk, Travis hunched over. “Listen, this is the information desk, and I need some information, so you’re going to give it to me.”

Seeing that they were being watched, Scott put his hand on Travis’s shoulder at looked at the nurse, trying to gently pull him away. “Thank you so much, I think that we can take it from here. I just remembered that our lady friend told us where to meet her. I apologize for the trouble.” He turned to Travis and whispered in his ear. “Don’t make a scene. Come on, move away.”

Doing as he was told, Travis stepped away from the desk, but gave the preoccupied nurse a sinister stare as he moved back to a empty alcove with Scott. “Well now we’re fucked. This is a big place, and it’s insanity here so we don’t even know where to look. I hope you have a plan or something.”

Taking off his damp hat, Scott ran his fingers through his long red hair. “Travis, you weren’t going to get any answers from her. Look around you, these ‘security’ men are suspicious as all hell. They clearly aren’t police, or even hospital security. Hell, I think that they are maybe government or some sort of special forces. Whatever happened here wasn’t just your run of the mill gas explosion, and we have to keep a low profile if we’re going to find Rhiannon. I don’t want to go getting mixed up in whatever this is. We need to find her and then get the fuck out of dodge.” As he spoke to Travis, Scott could see that a man from the waiting area got up, approached the front desk and began to speak to the nurse. He kept his voice down so low that even the nurse could barely hear him and had to lean in. He asked a few questions and she would shake her head no. The man was clearly upset and was very skittish. His eyes scanned the entrance, moving from person to person with a look of complete hopelessness and desperation. Scott turned his attention back to Travis. “The first thing that Rhiannon said to me was that she had to go find her husband at the hospital to identify him. There’s only one place that I know of where dead bodies are kept for identification purposes, the morgue. I think that’s where she’s headed. Her friends were going there too, so let’s just start in the most convenient place.”

Rolling his eyes, Travis couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “How do you purpose that we are going to get through those thugs over there? Even if we knew our way to the morgue, those gorillas aren’t letting anyone out of this area. They’ve got everyone corralled like cattle in here. Come on, think about it, it will never work!”

The blond man at the desk started to raise his voice. It now caught the attention of nearly everyone in the room. “I’m looking for Marko Saaresto. He’s a surgeon. I know he’s here.”

Scott sighed. “This is a public place; they can’t be pushing people around. I say that we at least try to…Travis? Travis? Travis?” Noticing that Travis’s attention was focused on the thin blond man, Scott tugged on the front of his hoodie. “Hey… that’s none of our business. Travis… hey… Travis.” His words fell on deaf ears, as Travis hurried back across the room and pushed the much smaller man on his shoulder. The man stumbled backwards slightly, and Scott came rushing over, inserting himself between Travis and the stranger. “Travis, hey what’s going on here? There’s no need to do that.” Scott glanced behind him at the man who was just as shocked as he was. “I’m sorry about my friend here. I honestly don’t know what came over him.”

“He knows Marko Saaresto, Scott!” Travis reached into his backpack and brought out a small slip of paper. Scott took it and unfolded it. The handwriting on it was written in a very delicate and artistic cursive manner which spelled out the name of ‘Marko Saaresto’. “That’s the name of the surgeon that the lady who freed me from New West gave to me. He’s the one who can remove the implant!”

The short blond man looked around nervously. “Keep your fucking voice down. If you keep talking about New West in the open like that, we’re all as good as dead.”

“What do you know about Marko?” Travis demanded. “Is he here? I need to see him right away.”

Stepping out of the way, the man moved toward a set of double doors which led further into the hospital. “I don’t know where Marko is at the moment.” He glared at Travis. “And I think you have mistaken him for someone else, he doesn’t have anything to do with implants or whatever the hell you called them, so if you can please leave me alone, that would be great.”

Travis moved forward and Scott immediately put a hand on his chest, holding him back. Much to his surprise, Travis held his ground and didn’t take another step forward. The security men made no effort to interrupt the confrontation but watched on with interest. “Please. I need to see him right away. It’s a matter of life or death.” Travis pleaded.

The man was about to respond when the double doors opened and Marko appeared, as if magically summoned out of nowhere. He looked slightly dazed and a little disorientated. Seeing him, Ollie gasped. Marko looked like he had been badly beaten and left for dead. His head was wrapped in white gauze, covering a large gash on his temple which was still fresh and slightly oozing blood. His clothing was ripped and completely covered in dirt and dust. Numerous bruises, cuts and scrapes covered every inch of his exposed skin, and his breathing was shallow and labored. Running to him, Ollie wrapped his arms around him and embraced him tightly. “Marko, I am so sorry. You told me to leave but I stayed. I couldn’t just leave you like that. I had to know that you were alright and got out of here alive.” Slowly letting him go, Ollie took a deep breath and stood back a little, giving Marko breathing room. “What the hell happened to you? I left you with the woman for surgery and when I see you again, it looks like you’ve been crawling through a battlefield.”

Marko took hold of Ollie’s hand and pulled him away from the doors. “I’ll tell you about it later. Right now, we need to put as much distance between us and this hospital as possible. It’s dangerous here now, and it’s about to get much worse.”

“New West?” Ollie asked.

His eyes darting around the room frantically, Marko assessed the situation and the people around them. “They are only part of it. Something terrible happened and I was in the middle of it. New West is searching for someone... but he's not just a normal person... he's... he's... a god. They will rip this place apart until they find him. Everyone here is in danger. We have to go now!” Grabbing Ollie’s wrist, Marko yanked him and started heading for the exit, when Travis stepped forward and stood directly in his path. Standing toe to toe with him, Marko gave him a deadly serious glare. “You’re in my way. Please move.”

“You’re the surgeon, Marko Saaresto. I need your help.”

“Not anymore. I've retired.” Marko frowned. “This place is filled with surgeons and doctors. I can’t help you. Go find someone else who can. Now, if you will step out of the way, my partner and I have to be leaving now.”

Travis didn’t budge an inch. “New West put this thing inside of my head, and I want it out. Someone told me that you were the only one who could do it safely. It’s doing something to my brain, I am hallucinating and it’s hard for me to focus on what is real. I need to get it out before I go insane. The woman with the white hair said that it had to be you. I am not asking you to help me, I am telling you to.” 

Scott moved in behind Travis. “Hey Travis, this isn’t how we handle things. Let’s give the guy some room and….”

“NO!” Travis snapped back at Scott. “You’ve been begging me to seek medical help and get this out of my head. Well we’re here now and by some strange stroke of luck, this is the doctor that I was told to find. It must be done RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW! I am not leaving or letting anyone else leave until this is taken care of, and if you’re not going to help me, then I suggest you get out of my way and let me handle things on my own. I am so tired of you.”

Shaken and startled by his words, Scott stepped back and looked towards Marko and Ollie. “I am sorry. He’s normally not like this.” He looked to the security men and noticed that that had now taken more of an interest in what was going on. Several of the patients who were waiting for treatment were now moving back away from the group. “We’re attracting attention.” He whispered.

“I don’t care.” Travis replied. He moved closer still to Marko. The two men were only a few inches away from each other. It was a stand off, neither of them wanted to move. The air in the room was thick with tension. Travis shifted his weight slightly and leaned forward. He whispered into Marko’s ear. Marko went pale for a moment and his eyes focused intently on Travis.

Irritated, Ollie moved next to Marko and glared at Travis. “This is enough. Marko let’s just go. They won’t stop us. You know what we’re risking by staying here.”

Marko put his arm in front of Ollie pushing him back slightly. “Ollie, I think we can help this gentleman, before we go. Can you please check that exam room over there and see if there’s anyone in it?” Ollie gave Marko a defiant look and started to say something but noticed the look on his face and unwillingly did as he was told. He had no idea why Marko had suddenly had a change of heart. It was strange.

Pushing past a group of elderly people who were waiting to get new room, Ollie went to the room beyond the hall and stepped inside. He half expected the nurse as the desk or even the security men to stop him, but they didn’t. No one said anything he looked around for a moment and then made his way back to the group. “It’s empty. Marko, what are we doing?”

“We are helping this man and his friend.” Marko smiled slightly. “Shall we get this over with?”

Keeping his eyes trained on Marko, Travis nodded. Ollie led the way back to the empty room, with Marko behind him, and Travis close behind. Bringing up the rear was a very confused Scott, who wasn’t quite sure what to do. As the group entered the room one by one, Scott noticed that as they left the hall, the security men walked away, but said nothing. Inside the small room, Travis ordered Scott to shut and lock the door behind him and stand guard near it.

Marko made his way to the center of the room where there was a gurney set up and turned around to face Travis. “If you want me to help you, from this point on, you’ve got to lower that gun. I am not going anywhere.”

Both Ollie and Scott looked on in surprise. Travis pulled out the gun that he had been holding between him and Marko and held it up. “This is my security that you will do what you are told to do, why would I even take the chance of lowering it for a moment?”

“I am a doctor.” Marko said coolly. “I may have worked for New West in the past, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten about the oath that I have taken. You need help, and I will give it to you, but I can’t do my job effectively with that thing constantly pointed at me.” He motioned to Scott. “You have a man there at the door, you can hand the gun it over to him. Let him play guard dog while I dig this thing out of your head. If you don't want to disarm, then I am just going to stand here until you shoot me or we let it fry what is left of your brain stem. You choose.”

Disgruntled, Travis waved Scott over and handed him the gun and jumped up onto the bed. Marko started to prepare some instruments behind him, as Ollie stood back, arms crossed over his chest and leaned against a cabinet. Scott whispered. “Travis… what are we doing? We don’t go around threatening people. This isn’t who we are!”

“No. This isn’t who ‘we’ are anymore Scott. It’s who ‘I’ am.” His dark eyes looked right up into Scott’s and he could clearly see that he was in pain. “I am sorry… about all of this. About Ember, about Prox, New West… and Caden. I should have never come back to you. I should have stayed away and not dragged you into any of it. I don’t know why I did.”

Taking hold of one of his hands, Scott held it tightly. Travis’s skin was cool to the touch and he was trembling. “You did it because you love me, and you needed me. Even though you’re afraid to admit it, or say the words out loud, I know they are there because I see it every time that I look at you. We belong together and I will stay by your side for as long as you want me to. We will find the kids, even if we have to go to Prox to get them back, we will bring them home where they belong… but we need to take this one step at a time. Right now, that thing needs to come out of your head so I can have you.. the real you, back. Got it?”

Nodding, Travis took his backpack off and handed it to Scott, who took it and stepped away. Marko switched on an overhead light that hurt Travis’s eyes and focused it onto the side of his head. “The implant can only go into a certain area on the left side of the cranium because it needs to target a very specific set of neurons in the soft tissue of the brain.” Pushing Travis’s head to the side, he started to press his fingertips into the skin of his temple, feeling for the little bits of metal that had been crudely inserted by New West as he spoke.

“So you’re the butcher who’s been doing their dirty work? Forcing the implants onto people who stand up to New West or choose to go against them? How much are they paying you to turn humans into mindless zombies?” Travis said bluntly.

Marko sighed and shifted his fingers slightly to the left, exploring another section of Travis’s temple. Ollie suddenly spoke up. “He doesn’t do that, so shut your fucking mouth.”

“Ollie, please.” Marko scolded. He gently tilted Travis’s head closer to the light and continued the examination. “To clarify, New West did have me in their employ as a staff surgeon, but at first it wasn’t anything like this. It was mostly fixing broken bones or removing bullet holes from their overzealous lackeys who became too enthusiastic about their jobs. I was in a bad situation.” He glanced up at Ollie for a moment. “We both were, and New West offered us a solution, a quick way out. Work for them for a few months, no questions asked, just do as we were told and then they would set us up with a large sum of money and a new identity, never to be bothered again. It all seemed too good to be true, but we took up their offer, simply because we wanted to be free to live a life together, without harassment. At first everything went well, but then about one year ago, everything changed. There was this top-secret project that they were working on which no one could talk about. They started to bring us samples of strange drugs that had bizarre chemical compounds which they wanted us to replicate, or new bits of medical technology which they are trying to reconfigure for their own use. No one knew where they came from. The best scientists, doctors, chemists, ect were all working on it, and then strangely one by one, they all started to vanish. Rumors started to spread that they failed in their research and New West decided to give them a ‘permanent vacation’. Soon I found myself in a very precarious position, being the only skilled surgeon left in their roster, I had to start doing the BMI brain implants. I refused, and of course I was threatened. I spent weeks practicing on cadavers so that I could do what they asked me for, because…. Well... failure was not an option.” Marko paused for a moment and moved Travis’s head another way, focusing it under the light. “To make a long story short. Even though I was the best at it, when it came down to it, I just couldn’t bring myself to take away the free will and life of another human being. Ollie and I ran. They caught us, but because I was valuable to them, they made me a deal and didn't outright kill me. Do a few more surgeries for them and we were free… and that’s what brings us here now.”

Across the room, Scott threw the gun on a nearby chair. “These people, New West… they are the enemy, not you. I am sorry that it had to come to this. They tortured Travis too and….”

“Scott. Enough. Please.” Travis said, interrupting him again. “They don’t need to know everything about us. Let him take the thing out of my head so we can all go our separate ways.”

Shaking his head, Scott walked away from the door and started pacing on the opposite side of the room. The expression on his face was one of extreme hurt and rejection. “Whatever Travis, whatever.”

Trying not to let Scott’s tantrum bother him Travis turned his attention back to Marko. “You’ve been poking my head for 10 minutes now, are you going to cut it open and get that thing out or what?”

Reaching up, Marko switched off the harsh overhead light. “No.” All three men were now glaring at him from different points in the room. Calmly, Marko walked over and stood next to Ollie, sliding his arm around his waist. “Travis, I hate to tell you this, but there isn’t an implant inside of your head. As I stated before, there is only one logical place in the brain where it can be placed to work, it’s designed especially for that spot, and it isn’t there. That’s why you don’t have a scar either. When you were ‘released’ by this mysterious person from New West, she may have slightly cut the flesh there to make you believe that you had the implant, but the truth is that it never happened. You’ve been decieved this entire time.”

Travis gently touched the spot on his temple with his shaking fingertips. “You’re wrong. There’s something there, I can feel it. I’ve been seeing things… hallucinating images of a man with black wings… he’s not real, I know it.”

“If you think I am lying, we can dodge the New West security that’s crawling through the hallway and get you down to X-ray for proof, but it would be a complete waste of time, Travis. I am not saying that you’re making anything up when you claim to be experiencing these things, without a doubt you’re body is going through something, but it’s not because of a implant.” Marko moved away from Ollie for a moment and put his hand on Travis’s shoulder. “Listen… I am not going to just walk out on you. You came to me asking for help and that’s what you are going to get. I can’t turn away from a patient.” Behind him, Marko heard Ollie let out a groan. “But my hands are tied here. This place is about 20 minutes away from being completely taken over by New West. Another doctor I know told me of a safe place to go, she has a lab out in the country not far from here. There are medical supplies there, testing equipment, food, water. It’s everything that we need to lay low for a while.”

“I can’t.” Travis said quietly. “We have to go find Ember.” He glanced over at Scott expecting him to be pleased with his decision and saw that his face was completely emotionless. “Scott? What’s wrong?”

“You need to come clean and tell him, Travis.” Scott murmured.

Hopping down off the gurney, Travis pulled his hood up over his head and picked up his backpack. “Tell him about what? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Leaving his place by the door, Scott flew across the room and snatched the backpack from Travis’s hands. Travis lunged for it, but Scott was faster and retreated across the room with it. “All this time, you’ve been lying to me. From the very moment that you came back, your words have been nothing but a bunch of lies trying to get me to feel sorry for you.” Scott shook his head as the anger started to rise within him. “I don’t know what to believe anymore. Caden? Bullshit… Ember being on another planet? That’s a load of garbage. I fucking trusted you.”

“Scott, what the fuck man, why are you saying all of this?”

With tears welling up in his eyes, Scott unzipped Travis’s bag. “Marko, you said that something else was effecting Travis? Well I know exactly what it is.”

From across the room, Travis pleaded. “Scott, don’t do this.”

“I’ve let you take the lead ever since you came back, because I believed that you knew what you were doing and where we were going, but now I see that you only did what was right for you. You don’t get to make decisions anymore Travis.” Tipping the backpack over, Scott proceeded to dump the contents out onto the floor at their feet. Tons of pre-filled medical syringes came spilling out and clattering down onto the concrete. Marko went over and picked one up to examine it. “The secret is out now, and you’re exposed for what you really are. An addict. You left me for a whole year and came back only half the man you once were. This is why! It all adds up now. Every time you had a ‘hallucination’ you shot up with this garbage and it went away. This wasn’t a treatment or a cure, it was the disease.” Frustrated, Scott threw the empty backpack down onto the floor. His eyes were red. “Why couldn’t you be honest with me? Why did you have to make up absurd stories to tell me? Has this street trash that you keep injecting yourself with worth more than me? I could have helped you right from the start. You didn’t have to drag me halfway across the goddamn country on a wild goose chase like this. If you were honest from the start we wouldn't be in this situation right now.” Scott stopped, unable to utter another word.

“It’s not like that. Everything I said is true.” There was doubt in Travis’s once confident voice. “It has to be true… I was there on Prox… I saw her, I saw Ember.” He glanced over at Marko. “Tell him… it’s not the drugs. Tell him… tell him…”

“I’ve actually seen this chemical before, but what is in these syringes is a very diluted version of it. We’ve tested it on animals, and it does cause some of them to become quite agitated. This is more than likely the cause of your rapid deterioration. New West was forcing our chemists to try and replicate it, but they were unsuccessful, hence the ‘watered down’ version was created. Of course, there’s only one way to find out if it really is the drug making you ill or if it’s something else, and that is to stop taking it completely. You’ll need constant supervision, preferably someone with a medical background and a place to isolate for a few days until it’s all out of your system. From what I’ve seen, after a period of extreme discomfort, there shouldn’t be any lasting results.”

Travis pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why would the woman that released me, give me a drug to turn me into an addict? There's no reason for it! She was helping me escape from New West, she was just like you… someone who didn’t like the way the company was going. It doesn’t make any sense… what I am telling you is the truth, I swear to fucking god.”

Marko shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. New West has become a massive threat to the world as we know it in a very short time. In the span of one year, they’ve gotten their greedy hands in almost everything imaginable, but in a very secretive way.” He looked over to Ollie, who was shifting from foot to foot anxiously, eager to leave as soon as possible. “That’s why we have to get out of here. I’ve helped you as much as I can.”

“The lab in the woods” Ollie said, finally speaking up. “That’s where we are headed. Up to you guys whether you want to come. Make your decision quick because either way Marko and I are getting out of here, right now. He’s given you what you want.” He walked over to Scott and gave him a pat on the arm, whispering quietly. “It’s none of my business, but I wouldn’t give up on him just yet. Even though he seems to be a complete asshole right now, that man loves you. You can see it in his eyes. Marko and I have fought hard to be with one another because we believe in each other. I know it’s difficult now when things are rough like this, but you’ll get through them…just give the guy a chance.”

Scott glanced at Ollie and then back to Travis. “I’m probably going to regret this, but I am going to ask you anyway. What do you want to do? Will you go with Marko? Or stay here and look for Rhiannon?”

Marko shook his head. “There's no way you're going to find anyone here now. New West is scouring the building, and putting people into groups for some reason. She's probably being held in on one of the higher floors. You have to leave now while you still can. The question here is when we walk out those doors, are you going your own way or with us? You need to choose carefully.”

Travis stepped in front of the group and put his hand on the door handle. He kept his back turned toward the group. “I still believe that everything I told you was the truth, and I believe it with all of my heart, but I also know that there’s something wrong with me. I can’t keep going on like this, because I feel that it’s tearing us apart. All my life, I never felt like I belong anywhere. I was always an outcast, a misfit, getting constantly bullied for being different. It wasn’t until I found you and Ember that my life felt complete. I want to go back to that again, and I am willing to do whatever it takes.” Turning around very slowly, his eyes fell on Scott, who's expression had become a little bit softer, more subdued. “That is… if you will help me. I can’t do it on my own.”

Picking up the now empty backpack from the floor, Scott walked to Travis and handed it to him. “Together then.” He looked to Marko and Ollie. “All of us.”

Ollie patted Scott on the back. “Finally. Now let’s get the hell out of here!”

Taking the lead, Travis slid the backpack onto his back and started to open the door.

“Wait.” Marko said quietly. “Do you hear that?”

“Huh? What I don’t hear anything.” Travis answered. “It’s quiet.”

Taking a step back, Marko grabbed Ollie’s sleeve and pulled him away. “That’s the problem.”

Curious, Travis opened the door with caution and suddenly there was a loud bang. The small room was illuminated with a bright flash of light that momentarily blinded everyone, and a shrill ringing filled their ears and caused them to retreat away from the doorway. Scott was the first one to react, feeling something touching his face. Reaching up, he touched his cheeks and found that his fingertips came away thick with wet blood. He looked down to see that his shirt was now stained with massive droplets of red that were slowly soaking into the fabric. Someone was yelling around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ollie dive for the gun that was left behind on the chair. The air in the room was hazy and filled with a noxious, thick smoke. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion now. The door in front of him slowly closed, and now he could see that all the patients, visitors and staff who were once lined up in the waiting room in the hall beyond were dead. They were slumped over in their chairs, like they had all just fallen asleep at the same time. Only the bright red splashes of fresh blood soaked into their clothing were clues that something terrible had happened. The door finally shut, and he grabbed Travis’s shoulder, yelling at him, asking what had just happened over the loud high-pitched ringing in his ears that wouldn’t seem to go away. He was dimly aware of Marko was ransacking the room, opening cabinets and pulling out drawers, desperately searching for something. Scott pushed on Travis’s arm, trying to get him to turn around. “Travis... hey… what’s going on? My ears won’t stop ringing.” Travis didn’t respond or move an inch. “Travis… hey hey…” Not getting an answer, Scott moved around to stand in front of Travis and his heart stopped. Travis’s eyes were wide and fixed directly in front of him. His breath came in shallow gasps. There was blood spilling out from a gunshot wound on the side of his neck, which had completely blown away most of the soft tissue and flesh. Severed tendons hung out of the massive hole, surrounded by pulsing veins and bits of sinew. Bright white sections of his spinal cord were exposed, clear evidence that he had been shot at extremely close range. His hands were shaking, causing tremors to run up and down his body which increased in speed with every passing second. Scott gasped, seeing Travis bleeding out, yet still standing completely upright in front of him. The blood was pouring out like a river, cascading down the front of his body and pooling up at his feet. “…..travis….”

Marko raced to his side, his hands full of balled up towels and whatever other absorbent material that he could find in the room. Quickly, he jammed them into the gaping hole in Travis’s neck and shouted at Scott. “We need to get him on the gurney. Fast!” Scott stood still, looking at the emptiness of Travis’s eyes in wonder. There was nothing there, not even a single spark of life. The man that he loved was gone, replaced by a still bleeding corpse. He couldn’t move, or speak, or do anything but stare at him. Marko yelled again. “Scott! Scott! Come on man, help me out here!!” Motionless, Scott couldn’t tear his eyes off him, there was so much blood, it was everywhere… so red and warm. He could smell it. “FUCK!” Marko held one hand on Travis’s shoulder and the other on the already damp towels in his neck. He called out to Ollie. “Ollie, help me with him. Hurry, before he falls.” Shoving the gun into the back of his pants, Ollie ran to Marko’s side and helped guide Travis’s body down onto the gurney. “Here, hold these towels while I try to find something to suture up the wound. We have to stop the bleeding.”

Taking over for Marko, Ollie looked down at Travis, whose sightless eyes were staring up at the lights overhead. There was no reaction. “Marko, I think it’s already too late.”

Moving from cupboard to cupboard, Marko started throwing the contents inside down onto the floor. “No, I can save him, I am pretty sure that I can. I just need some sutures… possibly a transfusion kit.” Pulling open another drawer, he grabbed handfuls of medical brochures and insurance forms and tossed them down in rage. “Garbage, all of this is garbage.”

Still keeping pressure on Travis’s neck, Ollie leaned down to rest his ear against Travis’s chest. He listened quietly. After a few moments, he stood up and let go of the soaked towels. There were bright red streaks of blood in his blonde hair. Marko stopped what he was doing and looked over at him. Ollie shook his head. Dropping the packages of gauze he held in his hands, Marko turned around to face the wall, running his fingers through his hair. Behind him, Scott staggered back towards the door. Leaning on it, he slowly let his body sink to the floor. A strange, cold sensation began to overtake him. He refused to look up at Travis’s body on the gurney in the center of the room. All he could see was the huge puddle of blood in front of him, and the broken syringes that littered the floor around him. No one spoke. The silence that filled the room was more suffocating than the rancid smell of gunpowder and blood. In the hall beyond, there were muffled voices, but they were too quiet to make out what was being said. Ollie pulled a sheet up over Travis's body. The sound of the material dragging over the gurney was louder than anything, even the subtle tapping of the blood dripping down onto the floor.

Then out of nowhere, there was a soft knocking on the door, and a man’s voice spoke. “Saaresto. If you come out of there, we will let the others live. You’ve already got a man down. How many more must suffer for your traitorous acts against New West?”

Ollie moved away from the gurney and turned Marko around. “See! I told you that this was a bad idea! We should have gotten the fuck out of here when we had time. Now we’re trapped like rats.” Seeing the defeated expression on Marko’s face, Ollie instantly backed off and walked around the room. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“This is my fault, so I have to be the one to make it right. I know what I have to do.” With tear filled eyes, he approached Ollie and drew him into an intimate embrace. “After I am gone, I want you to take Scott and get as far away from here as you can. He is in shock and needs someone to look after him. I won’t have another death on my hands, not if I can prevent it. Promise me that you will get him to safety.”

“Don't be a idiot!” Ollie tried to push Marko away, but his grip was too tight and being much smaller, all he could do was give in and wrap his arms around him. Closing his eyes, Ollie whispered. “No. I won’t let you make another sacrifice for me. We’re in this together, remember… and I don’t think that I can live without you.”

Rocking Ollie gently in his arms, Marko closed his eyes. “You have to, love… you just have to.” Tears now streamed down his cheeks, dripping down onto Ollie’s shoulders. “I will find a way to find you again. They won’t kill me, they need me… and I swear to you that we will see each other again.”

The warmth of Marko’s body close to his sent a chill down Ollie’s spine. In another time, he would be happy to be where he was, lost in an embrace filled with nothing but love and desire. On this night, however, it was nothing more than a goodbye, brimming with sorrow and regret. “Don’t lie to me, Marko.”

Leaning back slightly, Marko let go of Ollie and gazed deeply into his eyes. “No lies. I’d rather use my mouth to kiss your tears away.”

Bending down, Marko brought his lips to Ollie’s. As his bottom lip quivered, he felt a warmth spreading through him and warming his heart. Marko’s bloodstained hands held onto Ollie’s thin arms, and as he deepened the kiss, he eased his body in closer so that there was not a single inch of space between the two men. Their lips met, and for a moment, the world melted away. Ollie slid one of his hands up behind Marko’s head, running his fingers through his golden blond hair and pulling him closer. Unspoken words of apology were strung out over Ollie’s lips like a symphony, with each second that ticked by growing stronger and louder as his heart beat furiously in his chest. The sound of footsteps outside soon broke the serenity of the moment, but either of the two men were willing to let go of one another. Breaking off the kiss, Marko rested his cheek alongside of Ollie’s and kept him close. “Marko, I don’t want you to go.”

Unable to hold back his emotions, Marko let himself cry. “I don’t want to go.”

“Maybe… we’ve reached the end…” Ollie’s voice cracked, as he tried his best to speak the thoughts that were forming in his heart. “Maybe… this is where our part in the story is supposed to end. There aren’t any more pages left with our names written on it, and we must accept that and be done with it. We can open that door and head for the exit. At least we will be together when it happens.”

“No love. You must go on. There’s something I want you to do for me.” Slowly, Marko slid his hands down Ollie’s arms and held onto both of his hands tightly. “That book of poetry and lyrics of mine that you have. I need you to take it and write music for it. I need those words to live on long after I am gone. I am placing my legacy in your hands. Turn it in to something beautiful that people can fall in love to, just like I have with you.”

Ollie lowered his head and Marko immediately reached out and lifted his chin with two fingers. “That’s a pretty pitiful excuse for sacrificing yourself, Marko… All for a book of lyrics.” Ollie’s eyes were red now as the tears spilled out of them, making everything blurry.

Marko smiled. “If I had my life to live again, I would spend it playing music and being with you.”

For one last time, Ollie collapsed into Marko’s arms. The two met stood in the room, both unwilling to release one another. It wasn’t until the heavy knock on the door startled them for the second time that they finally relinquished their embrace. The voice outside the door spoke again. “Marko, I am tired of waiting for you. Make this easy on yourself and have a clear conscience that you only got one of your friends killed.”

Letting go of Ollie, Marko shouted back. “I’m coming out. My friend is in shock, give me a moment to get him up.” He looked to Ollie. “You still have the gun, right?” Ollie nodded back to him. “Good. Keep it concealed. Don’t let them see it, but also don’t be afraid to use it if things go south. When the door opens, you and Scott head straight for the exit. Don’t turn around or look back, understand? No heroics this time, no waiting for me…just go and go quickly. If you hesitate, even for one second you won’t be able to get out at all. Take the chance and run.” Placing a hand on both sides of Ollie’s head, Marko tilted his head up and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead and then quickly released him. “Let’s get Scott on his feet.”

It took both of the men’s strength to get Scott into an upright position again. He was completely catatonic and unresponsive but still conscious. Each man took an arm and looped it over their shoulder to bring him to his feet. Ollie knew that he wasn’t going to be able to carry the big man far alone and hoped that they could make it out on pure adrenaline. There was no way that he was going to tell Marko that he was too weak to carry Scott . This was his burden now. As they prepared to move out, Ollie suddenly called out. “Wait!” Slipping away from under Scott for a moment, leaving Marko to hold him, Ollie darted over to the gurney and pulled back the sheet that was covering Travis’s body. Marko turned his head away, unable to look at the incredible amount of trauma done to the young man. Reaching under Travis, Ollie pulled out his backpack and freed it from his corpse. It was completely soaked in blood. Marko looked at him questioningly. “I saw some personal items still stuck inside when Scott dumped it out. There are some photos in there. I think that he might want them later.” Marko nodded silently as Ollie hoisted Scott’s arm over his shoulder and they headed forward.

Marko pulled the door open. The weight of it felt like a thousand pounds on his arm. He could feel Ollie’s eyes on him but knew that he couldn’t look back at him. There were too many emotions there now. His heart would break. The sight in front of them was like something out of a horror movie. Only a brief glimpse of it before when the door swung open did not reveal the true terror of what had transpired in that lobby. Innocent people had been brutally murdered, butchered, some beaten to death, others had multiple knife wounds in the bodies. No one had made it out alive. The black clad guards who had merely been observing the patients and visitors before were now joined by even more of their ranks, who were now cleaning off their weapons, or going through the pockets of their victims. Standing in the center of the room was a man of medium build, fair skin and striking green eyes. He was dressed in a simple black suit, with a black dress shirt and a deep red satin tie. Light brown hair with fine blond highlights fell around his ears, framing his flawless white skin perfectly. As Marko, Ollie and Scott exited the room, he turned and smiled at them. “I told you that leaving wouldn’t be possible.” The man said in a matter-of-fact voice. “New West needs you Marko, all the dreams of being able to just walk away from all of this is just false hope. Why didn’t you listen to me when I warned you?”

“You know him?” Ollie asked, surprised.

Marko looked over at the door, the gateway to freedom just beyond the guards. “Keep walking Ollie, just keep fucking walking.” He whispered under his breath.

Ollie hesitated, Marko's warning had either gone unheard or ignored. “Marko, who is that?” Ollie asked again.

Marko moaned. It was too late now, there was nothing he could do but answer the pressing question. Silently, he cursed Ollie's vengeful jealousy toward other men who paid him any interest. He knew that he meant well, and was fiercely protective, but there was a time and place for everything. This wasn't it. “He’s one of the directors from New West. We talked a few times….” Marko turned his attention to the man in front of him. “I would have come back willingly, why did you have to kill all of these people, you sadistic bastard.”

The man chuckled. “Oh you think that I killed them because of you? That’s amusing. No. This entire hospital is being ‘sanitized’ because of another problem, which has nothing to do with you. Although I must report to my superiors that their little runaway, Travis Owen has been neutralized. He was a threat to New West, and they were trying their best to recover him for more information. Sadly, one of our operatives felt sorry for him and set him free before they were done with him. It was a amusing plan, making him think that he was insane addict, in effort to protect him, but I find it was so much easier just to remove the potential threat and be over and done with it. Honestly, sometimes I hate the way this organization works. Always running secret missions, covert actions disguised as something completely different. It's annoying. In a way, I am glad this little incident happened, no more hiding for New West. We can finally step up and take our place as the new world order. Big changes are happening and you are all here to witness it! Isn’t it exciting? As a matter of fact, I should be taking care of a few loose ends here myself so that we can move on to bigger and better things.” He snapped his fingers and a group of guards came forward and grabbed Marko, pulling him out from under Scott. Ollie looked on in anger as they immediately bound Marko’s hands behind his back and pushed him down to his knees. The man saw Ollie’s anger growing and shrugged, smiling at him. “A deal is a deal, don’t get bent out of shape over it. After all, you’re getting exactly what you want, and so am I… and to show you my appreciation for being so cooperative, I will even return this to you.” The man waved his hand, and two more guards brought out a woman, and shoved her towards Ollie and Scott, where she fell and slid across the floor, her hair concealing her face. Slowly raising her head, she looked up with tear stained cheeks.

Marko moaned. “No! Siobhan! Not you too.”

Dark purple circles lurked underneath both of her eyes, and her split lip was still slightly bleeding as she looked up from underneath swollen cheeks. There were too many bruises on her arms and face to count. “I thought that they were hospital staff... After Burnley left, they grabbed me and took me inside. I didn’t want to go with them, I wanted to go find Brock, but they wouldn’t let me. I tried to get out, but they beat me. They wanted to know about Burnley… I think that they are after him for some reason… I…” Almost on the verge of collapse, Siobhan started to lean backwards, but Ollie came up behind her and held onto her small body. She closed her eyes for a moment grateful to be away from her captors. 

Marko struggled against his bonds. “You have me, now let them go. You gave me your word.”

The New West director walked over and pulled his gloves off. Casually, he reached out and ran his hand down the side of Marko’s cheek. “All the nights that we spent together, all the time that we shared, has that not taught you anything, Saaresto?” He half smiled and then grabbed a handful of Marko’s hair, yanking it and forcing his head back. “I am not a man of my word, not by a long shot.” Marko’s eyes flashed in sheer defiance and every muscle in his body strained against his bonds. He laughed and then released him. With Marko on his knees in front of him, the man raised an eyebrow. “I get my orders from New West, but I am not above having a little fun at their expense either, so let me ask you this… what would you do for me if I agreed to let your friends go?”

“Nothing!” Marko growled. “You won’t let them go.”

“Well then I might as well off them now if you aren’t willing to work with me.” The man raised his hand and three of the guards rushed over to where Scott, Siobhan and Ollie were sitting on the floor. Drawing their guns, they pressed the barrels right up to the sides of their heads and waited for the order to fire.

“Wait!” Marko screamed.

The man squatted down so that he was eye level with Marko. “Shall we talk?”

Marko nodded, and the man leaned forward and dropped his voice, speaking so that only the two of them could hear. From across the room, Ollie searched Marko’s face, trying to find some clue as to what was being said, but it was of no use. Marko’s face showed no sign of emotion at all. After several anxious moments, he nodded again to the man and then lowered his face. Rising back to his feet, the man put the gloves back on his hand and then motioned for the guards who stood Marko up as well. “We are finished here.” Turning to his men, he gestured at the carnage around them. “Get this mess cleaned up and report back to Clearview when you’re finished.” Turning on his heel, he motioned for the guards holding Marko to follow. Marko took one last look at the friends that cowered on the floor behind them. He knew that what he was about to do was wrong, and went against every fiber of his being, but it had to be done so that they could live. If he survived, he knew that for the rest of the time that New West let him live, he would always be in regret and guilt for his own actions, but at least they would be free.

Ollie watched them drag Marko away, with Siobhan still resting in his arms. There was nothing he could do. He could feel his heart breaking, shattering into more pieces with each step that took Marko further away from him. Sadness overcame him, and he broke down, sobbing.

As the New West director reached the elevator, he waited for the doors to open and then shoved Marko forcibly in. Stumbling, Marko and the guards that held him positioned themselves in the back of the small car, and the director stepped in to face them with his back to the lobby. “Ah, I forgot something.” He said, clicking his tongue. Looking directly at Marko, he smiled. “I promised New West that I would completely sanitize this area, which means removing any and all witness who have had contact with our subject. So I guess our deal's off. No witnesses.”

“……no…..” Marko whispered. He looked out into the lobby where Ollie and Siobhan were now helping Scott to his feet. “…..no…..please….”

“Sorry but that’s the way it has to go… you know, following orders and whatnot. Trust me, it’s better this way, Saaresto. If they ever found out what you’re about to do… I don’t think that they would see you the same way ever again… Well, I actually know they wouldn’t… at least not your lover.” The man leaned in very close to Marko’s face and let his lips just graze the shell of his ear as he spoke. “I think that he would be quite ashamed of you.” Reaching out, the man unexpectedly touched Marko’s cheek. Marko winced and looked away, closing his eyes. “No no no don’t do that. Don’t look away. This is the last time that you will ever see them alive.”

Signaling to one of the guards that was still lingering behind, he made his way over to the trio as they were heading to the exit.

He raised his gun.

The doors on the elevator started to close.

Marko looked on in horror.

The guard aimed.

Ollie turned around and Siobhan screamed.

The doors closed and then the gun fired.

There was a moment of silence.

Then a second shot rang out.

Inside the elevator, Marko felt like he had just died inside.

A third shot, then silence.

Dustin Bates sat up from his bed in the recovery ward. He didn’t know how long he had been lying there, drifting in and out of consciousness, but judging from the facial hair on his chin, it had been quite a while. There was an empty IV needle stuck in his arm which was attached to a long dry intravenous bag which hung over his bed. The room he was in was massive, with several beds lined up against both walls which stretched on as far as he could see. Mostly dark, the only light illuminating the room was the one that was over his bed. It was freezing cold, and after throwing off the thin blanket which had been placed over him, he discovered that he was also completely naked. Leaning back against the pillow, he tried to remember the last thing that had happened to him, but there were jumbled memories in his head that were trying to be seen all at once and it was very confusing and giving him a headache. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a second and saw the New West ship crash, and the fire, the Carnivores and finally Burnley and Ember. He recalled the Carnivore attack which left him severely injured, slashed and bitten in several places. In a panic, Dustin yanked the blanket back down and gingerly touched the places where the lacerations once were. Nothing remained except for a few feint pink scratches. Everything else was perfectly healed. “How long have I really been here?” He whispered to himself. Sitting in the near darkness was unsettling, and he knew that he had to get out of there, as soon as possible.

Awkwardly pulling himself to his feet, he wobbled for a moment on legs that could barely hold his weight. The muscles had started to atrophy from lack of use, and he had to clutch onto the side of the bed for support. Mentally willing himself to ignore the pain that was slowly creeping through his thighs and shins, Dustin discovered a set of casual desert fatigues in the cabinet and pulled them on. Every single muscle in his lower body screamed out in defiance, but he kept going, refusing to be left behind in this desolate place and forgotten about forever.

About an hour passed before Dustin was ready to start moving out of the room. Using each of the beds as support, he half limped, half crawled his way to the set of double doors at the end of the hall. Peering out the windows, he could see a more illuminated corridor beyond and heard what he thought was a child’s voice giggling in the distance. Intrigued, he pulled open the doors and proceeded to follow the sound, stopping to look around at the weather ravaged walls around him. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust which hung heavily in the air, making it stifling and hard to breathe. After a few minutes of walking, he soon saw bright lights ahead, and what looked like an open door. Moving cautiously, he made his way to the door, stopping just to the side of it and peered in.

The room beyond was some sort of observation cubicle for what looked like a surgical suite. It was small and contained a table and chairs, a few sealed cabinets, a sink and a musty old couch which had been recently dragged in and deposited in the far end of the room. There was a large window, which looked down to another room, where surgery was usually performed. The first thing that Dustin noticed was Ember, the girl who had called Burnley her father and saved him from the Carnivores. She had dragged one of the tables over to the window and was sitting on it, her head leaning against the glass, looking worn and haggard, but her eyes sharp and focused on whatever was going on in the other room. She had dark circles under her eyes, probably from lack of sleep, and dark stains of dried blood covered the clothing that she was wearing. Her thin body was scrunched up in a ball against the window in an unnatural position, and it looked like she had been crying. On the opposite side of the room where the decrepit couch had been placed was a little boy, scribbling in a sketch book, completely distracted from the world around him.

Deciding that a teenager and a small child weren’t a threat to him, Dustin entered the room and stood at the doorway, trying to peer around Ember to see what she was so focused on. When she didn’t budge, he made the decision to make his presence known, he had little fear of her. “Ember? Is that your name?” He called to her. Half expecting to see her sprint across the room like an animal and jump him, Dustin was quite surprised to see that she didn’t even bother to turn her head to speak to him. She merely glanced over in his direction for a moment, and then went back to her vigil. The little boy also didn’t seem to care that he had entered. Taking a step inside the room, Dustin felt his legs wobble and leaned against the door frame for support. “I guess it’s you that I should be thanking for saving my life out there. You know, I was here before, on Prox. The Carnivores were pretty bad then too, but not nearly as bad as they are now. I guess that’s what evolution does…it changes things… people, places.” Ember still didn’t budge an inch. She remained silent and vigilant. Certain that the moment of weakness had passed, Dustin moved further into the room and near to Tristan. Looking down, he could see that the little boy was drawing the image of a dark man with wings on his paper. A momentary wave of coldness ran down his spine. He turned his attention back to Ember. “Is... Is there anyone else here but the two of you?” Deep inside, Dustin knew the question that he wanted to ask. It was the thing that frightened him the most. “Burnley. He’s here, right? I know I saw him when you brought me in.” Another step forward found Dustin with the answer. In the room beyond, lying on a steep gurney was the unconscious form of the man that he feared and despised, his bare torso covered in vivid red blood. A intravenous line was set up, pumping a transfusion of blood into him as the woman who Dustin knew as Thomas’s wife, Lizzie Bell worked diligently on her patient. “Holy shit!” Dustin muttered and took another step near the window. Ember immediately sprang into action and brandishing a very sharp knife, held it out in a threatening manner towards Dustin’s stomach. He immediately withdrew and Ember returned to her spot on the table near the window. “What happened to him? It looks like a gunshot wound from here, but he’s losing too much blood. What is Lizzie doing? He’s going to bleed out.”

“It happened when we went to Earth to bring Brock back. Someone shot Burnley in the chest. He didn’t heal. It got worse when we went through the portal and came back here. Lizzie says that the bullet went deep into his lung, and she can’t find it. She’s not a doctor, just a nurse.” Ember let out a sigh and finally looked back to Dustin. Her green eyes showed sighs of exhaustion. “We’ve been here for 5 hours now, there’s no more blood left to transfuse him. This is her last chance to save him.” The expression on Ember’s face suddenly became hard and cold. “If she can’t save his life, then I am going to take hers, and her son’s life in retribution. There’s no way she’s going to fail.”

Dustin’s heart raced. So many thoughts were going through his mind at once. The completely uncaring tone in her voice and violent threat to a woman and her son gave him chills. Ember was so young, and yet so cold. Her eyes reflected nothing but the same hardhearted ruthlessness which Burnley used to have. As much as he wanted to help Lizzie and her son, Dustin had other priorities on his mind. It was completely out of his hands now. Fate would have to run its course. “Brock… Brock is here?” He asked, his voice breaking as he spoke.

“No.” Ember whispered. “The portal was closing. I had to make a choice. Father… er… Burnley wanted me to bring him, it was his last order before he passed out, but…” Ember grabbed the end of the braid of red hair that hung down over one shoulder and twisted it around her finger. “I left him there, back on Earth. I don’t know if I made the right decision, Burnley wanted him here so bad, but I couldn’t carry him, time was running out…. I panicked.”

It took a moment for Dustin to process the words that she had just said. A wave of emotions hit him all at once, just with the mention of Brock’s name. His eyes filled up with tears as he remembered the very moment that he lost him forever. It wasn’t when he left to be with Burnley, it wasn’t after his soul had been set free… it was those precious moments, hidden away in a storage room in the FEC base, when he had to tell Brock that he had chosen Ben over him. The look in Brock’s eyes said it all. Nothing would ever be right between the two again. His own selfish actions had turned him away, refusing his love and affections and eventually send Brock right into the arms of Burnley, and an early death. “Did… did Burnley force Brock to come?”

Ember leaned back, retreating to her balled up corner perched on the table. She took a moment to look at Tristan, who was now napping on the couch. “He didn’t have a choice.”

Anger immediately filled Dustin. “What? Are you saying that Burnley forced him?”

“Brock wasn’t conscious when we found him. When the Shepherd died, Brock was there. Something happened to him and he fell asleep. Burnley wanted to bring him to Prox, but it didn’t happen. I had to leave Brock behind on Earth. It was my decision.”

“Ember, why are you calling him Burnley now? When I first met you, you said he was your father.” Dustin asked flatly.

Turning a bright shade of red, Ember looked away from Dustin and back toward the window. Her entire body language changed, and she became immediately defensive and withdrawn. Dustin then knew that her feelings for Burnley were no longer strictly platonic. The sick and deranged psycho had somehow manipulated the young girl into thinking that she was in love with him. Immediately repulsed, Dustin couldn’t help but to feel bad for her. Burnley was very much the physical embodiment of a sexual predator, always making his victims feel like they were the ones who were at fault, twisting love into something even more obscene. Now knowing that the man that he loathed and despised with every inch of his being had obviously survived the fire and managed to somehow create a new life, brought a new sort of perversion to the situation. “Son of a bitch.” Dustin muttered underneath his breath. Looking into the room beyond at Burnley lying there filled him with rage and anger. Burnley was the reason why everything in his former life had been lost, he took away Brock, he took away Benjamin, leaving Dustin with nothing but heartache and emptiness. From the moment that Dustin had recovered his old memories, vengeance became his sole reason for living. He had taken up with New West, just for a chance to get to Prox so that he could completely eliminate what was left of Burnley, and thus purge all the painful memories from his head forever. He thought that it would be over, and he could move on with a new life with Aurora. Now all the possibilities were taken away from him once again. Dustin knew that if the man that raped him and taken away the life that he wanted was still alive, there was no way he could ever be happy. He would go on manipulating and using people, until he got what he wanted and then toss them away like garbage. The young woman sitting in front of him was no exception. Burnley’s disease had already started to infect her, and he knew that he had to be the one stop it. His first thought was to leave it be, none of what was going on was his concern, but Burnley was involved now, so he had to step in and end it… end him once and for all. The bastard was vulnerable, and all he had to do was make sure that Lizzie failed in saving him. He was almost already dead now. Only a miracle could save him… or one tiny slip of a scalpel kill him. Easy as that. A plan started to form his head.

“Ember. I hate to say this, but I think you made a huge mistake.” Dustin said, pulling a chair over and casually sitting down on the chair.

Ember sat up. “What? You mean leaving Brock behind?” She yawned and closed her eyes for a moment. The lack of sleep was now started to affect her, and she was trying her best to fight it. “I did what I had to do to get Burnley to safety.”

“Do you know who Brock is?” Dustin asked curiously.

“He’s Burnley’s friend from Earth, from a long time ago. His best friend.” She shrugged. “That’s all I know.”

Stretching his legs out to stop them from cramping, Dustin took a moment and paused before replying to her, ecstatic that she took the bait. “More than that. They were lovers.” He could see all the remaining color fade from Ember’s cheeks. She looked like a living corpse now as his words hit home. “Let me explain something about the man in that room. Burnley was abused by the FEC for a long time. He grew up not knowing what it was like to love someone. He found out that he could use that emotion to manipulate and get people do what exactly what he wanted them to do. I am afraid that he’s using you now… just look at what’s going on here. You’re willing to slit the throat of a mother and child for him. Are you really willing to condemn yourself to be a murderer for the sake of one person who doesn’t event feel the same way you do?”

“Burnley loves me!” Ember shot back. “He takes care of me. He’s gentle and kind… If I do something wrong, then I get punished for it, but it’s usually my fault anyway. Sometimes I disappoint him… and….”

Dustin leaned forward. “He punishes you.” He said, finishing her sentence. “How?”

“Only if I deserve it.” She whispered. “It’s because he loves me.”

“That’s not love, Ember! That’s torture. He’s using you and your conflicted emotions against you.” Dustin stopped for a moment, letting her absorb everything that he had said. Deep inside, he felt bad for pushing her, after all she was still just a child, barely a teenager and her state of mine was fragile at best, but he needed to get through to her, he needed her to take that one step off the edge. “Ember. You see that woman in there, Lizzie? He raped her, not because she did anything wrong, but because he wanted to, and after he had completely taken away her innocence, he tried to turn her into a Carnivore as further torture. Before that, he raped me too, and again it’s not because of anything that I did to upset him, he did it because he wanted to teach someone else a lesson. How long will it be before he gets bored of you and does the same?” Ember wiped at her eyes with the back of her bloodstained sleeve and refused to look at Dustin. Her guilt was very apparent. “Has he… Ember… has he forced you to….”

“No!” She shouted. “He doesn’t do that.”

“Are you sure? Are your thoughts clear enough to remember if he did? Think about it for a moment, can you recall every moment you spent with him? Do you remember growing up at his side?”

“I don’t know… the medicine makes me forget things.” She sat up straight and sniffled. In the corner of the room, Tristan started to whimper. “I don’t care about any of that anyway. I know he needs me.”

“Burnley did some terrible things. He hurt a lot of people here on Prox, good people... He was hated in so many ways, by everyone… except for one person, and that was Brock. When the whole world turned it’s back on Burnley, and he was on the verge of death, Brock went to him and saw something inside of him that the rest of us couldn’t. At first, I thought that it was a simple infatuation that Brock had with him; that maybe he was drawn to him because Brock liked to be needed, I couldn’t give him what he wanted, and Burnley needed to be saved… but the night that we were standing on the hill in the cold snow and wet rain, watching the FEC base burn down with Burnley in it, I turned to Brock and saw something in his eyes which I had never seen before. Sympathy and sadness for a dying man. Ember, Burnley went to Earth with one sole purpose, risking everything to get Brock back. When he got shot, he asked you to do one simple thing, and that was to get Brock to Prox, but you didn’t do it. I’ve seen Burnley in a fit of rage before, and I am sure you have too… he’s absolutely psycho when it comes to Brock… when he wakes up and finds out that you left him there, you are going to be the one to pay the price.”

“I…. I… don’t care!” Ember jumped down off the table that she was sitting on and paced around the room. “As long as he’s still alive, that’s all that matters.”

Dustin raised an eyebrow. “He’s going to kill you, you know. I can’t stop him; Lizzie can’t stop him… No one can. The moment that he realizes that you’ve taken Brock away from him, let him slip right through your fingers, he will undoubtedly rip you apart. You know I am right.”

Ember began to shake. She paced through the room. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal, leaving him there. We can’t go back, there aren’t enough resources and even we could find them, both machines have suffered a meltdown here and on Earth. I didn’t know about Brock… I didn’t know.” Her eyes briefly went to the surgery, where the supply of blood was running out and Lizzie was still struggling to find the bullet. Time was ticking away. She glanced at Dustin, the hard as nails, cold woman faded away, leaving the frightened teenager standing before him. “He’s really going to kill me… oh god… he’s going to kill me… what do I do?”

Standing up, Dustin took the knife away from her and held onto one of her shoulders. “Take the kid, go somewhere else for a little while and let me deal with it.”

“Please don’t kill him. He’s… he’s my father. I need him.” Her dark eyes pleaded with Dustin.

Gently, Dustin pushed her towards the door. “I know exactly what to do. I’m going to assist Lizzie to make sure that she does her best. If he pulls through, we won’t let him hurt you. We will keep him restrained and sedated for as long as it takes.” With an awkward sweeping motion, Dustin wiped her tears away with his fingers. “If you really want him in your life, as your father, then this is your chance. Be strong and make him proud of you.”

Nodding, Ember took a moment to collect herself and then reached out, gently shaking Tristan awake. “I know what I have to do now. Please Dustin. Don’t let him die.” Without another word, she grabbed the sleepy boy and headed off down the hall with him, disappearing in a matter of seconds.

Looking down at the knife in his hands, Dustin felt an overwhelming sense of power. He held the cards now, Burnley was completely at his mercy. Lizzie wouldn’t take much convincing. All he had to do was sit back and watch him bleed to death. Burnley wouldn’t have the chance at ruining Ember’s life, he wouldn’t have Brock back, and he certainly wouldn’t get another life to live. This was it. It was the end. Dustin placed his hand on the door which led into the surgical ward for a moment and hesitated, thinking on Ember’s words before she ran out. Clearly, she was up to something, but she was nothing more than a child herself and whatever she had in mind was purely of no consequence. After he took care of Burnley, Dustin would search the desert for Aurora and then find a way for them all to go home. Everything was carefully planned out and falling into place. It all hinged on the bastard Burnley dying, and this time, he was going to sit and wait, watching intently until every drop of blood dripped out of him and his cold heart finally stopped beating. Grinning like a fool, Dustin pushed the door open and entered into the surgery.

Ember walked with Tristan, his small hand in hers through the twisting corridors of the Shallow Bay until they reached a large room built far apart from the others. Forcing the steel doors open, Ember slipped inside, followed by Tristan, who was unsure and unsteady entering the darkness. “It’s alright.” Ember said to him. “You’ll like it in here. It’s nice.” Feeling her way through the room, Ember found the switch for the lights and flipped it on. Instead of the bright fluorescent overhead or natural lighting that illuminated most of the Shallow Bay, this room had low hanging Edison bulbs connected with a thin wire which extended all the way around the room. There were a few work benches, where various schematics, hand drawn on thin parchment paper were unrolled, spilling out over the edges of the tables and a multitude of bookshelves, each one stacked heavy with glass beakers jars, etc. In the corner of the room was a large over sized bed with a moth-eaten heavy blanket thrown on and a closet that contained several pairs of black and shirts and pants. Ember always had thought this odd, simply because this was Burnley’s personal room, and he never wore the clothes stashed away there. The room itself gave off an odd feeling of being suspended in time, with both old-world artifacts stacked perfectly among various computer parts and electronic devices. It was as if the eclectic collection of items there were just as out of place and obscure as the man who owned them was. “This is father’s room.” Ember said, looking around with fascination. “He doesn’t know that I come in here… mostly it’s on nights when the storms outside scare me.” Making her way over to the bed, she motioned for Tristan to join her as she opened up a large trunk which was kept at the foot of the bed. Using all her strength, she pushed it open and reached inside, bringing something out and holding it behind her back. It immediately got Tristan’s attention and she stood up and hopped up onto the bed. “I have a surprise for you Tristan.” She called softly. “Do you want it?”

“What is it Emmie?” The little boy asked. His eyes were wide with wonder.

“Ta da!” From behind her back, Ember pulled out a blue teddy bear with a bright blue Celtic knot lovingly hand stitched in blue iridescent thread on it’s tummy and held it out for him. Just as he was about to take it, Ember pulled it away. “You can have it, but you have to help me with something okay?”

Looking at her in wonder and amazement, Tristan mumbled. “hmmm alright!”

Ember patted the bed next to her and Tristan crawled up clumsily, wrinkling the blankets and sheets underneath him. Holding the bear in her hands, she lovingly stroked its ears. “I think… I think that father gave this to me when I was a kid like you. I only kind of remember it. It was in another room, not this nice one but one that was all cold and metal. He told me that the bear was magical, and that as long as I held onto it, nothing could hurt me.”

“Is it magic, Emmie?” Tristan asked. His eyes were wide with wonder.

“Well, I am still here aren’t I? No monsters got me yet, except maybe for the tickle monster!” Ember giggled and reached out to tickle Tristan’s tummy. He laughed hysterically, rolling over on the large bed, shrieking in delight with tears streaming down his face. Soon they were both lying on their backs, in the middle of the bed, gazing up at the dull glow of the Edison bulbs. “I did something bad, Tristan.” Ember said quietly. “When father finds out, he’s going to really be mad about it, and I don’t want that to happen.”

Rolling over onto his stomach, Tristan propped his head up on his elbows and frowned. “What did you do?”

“I… I… took something away from him that he needs. I didn’t know how valuable it was until now, and I feel bad. It’s the reason why we came to Earth, why he stayed up for endless nights working on that machine to take us there. I am so selfish. I didn’t care why we were going to another planet, I only wanted to be at his side and go with him, because I love him…but I am so confused now, confused and I’m scared that I might actually lose him.”

“Mommy tells me that you shouldn’t take things from people. It’s bad.” Tristan reached out and squeezed one of the bear’s soft paws. “Why don’t you give it back? Whatever it is you took?”

A single tear escaped Ember’s eye. Annoyed, she wiped it away. She was so tired of crying today. “I can’t… it’s not replaceable.” Looking down, she saw how confused the little boy at her side was. “I mean, there’s only one like it. Unique.”

Tristan sat up. “Then find another one. Daddy accidentally broke one of mommy’s little glass rabbits that were sitting up on the fireplace mantle. She was mad!! But he went out and got her another one. It looked a little different, but she ended up loving it soooo much!”

A silence fell over the room for a few moments. “That’s a great idea!” Ember said, handing the bear over to Tristan. “I was hoping you’d feel that way. Father always said that if you make somebody believe that it’s what they want, things go so much smoother. I never understood that until now.” Ember smiled at the little boy. “I am going to make this right, make father be so proud of me. I am going to show him just how brilliant I am, and you’re going to help me!”

“Yay!” Tristan shouted. Rising to his feet, he started to jump on the bed as Ember slipped away. “Emmie, where are you going?”

“To get some supplies. Stay right there!” Crossing the room, Ember approached the closet and pushing past all the black suits, made her way into the back, where she found what she was looking for, a electronic keypad embedded in the oak wall. Having a morbid fascination with Burnley, she would often sneak into his room at night and watch him, she couldn’t help it, the girl was completely infatuated and obsessed with the man she thought was her father. Most of the nights, he would sit at one of the tables and work on the schematics for the machine which they had kept in the basement, becoming totally obsessed in what he was doing that he failed to even see her peering in from the hall. On other nights, ones where he was melancholy, she would sit there on the bed and watch him as he silently read his way through the massive collection of antique books which adorned the wooden bookshelves. Then there were the bad nights, where he was restless and agitated. Most of those nights she would retreat into her room and put her pillow over her head so that she couldn’t hear the crashing of glass as his strangely unexpected rage ran its course. Very seldom, on a rare occasion, she would witness him slipping into the very closet where she was now standing, enter a code and return with a syringe filled with the ‘medicine’ that they both used, only this one was different. It shimmered and was almost glowing with a bright amber color. Sometimes he would lay down on the bed and inject it into him, other times, he would push the needle into his arm even before making it half way across the room, and fall down onto the floor, completely comatose and seemingly in a state of euphoria. Now Ember stood, her thin fingers poised over the keypad, lost in her own thoughts. Closing her eyes for a moment, she remembered how Burnley’s lips warm lips felt on her cool skin and instantly knew what she had to do. Punching in the numbers, ‘5502’ which she had seen Burnley do so many times before, she watched the back panel slide open, exposing a cabinet full of various drugs, all shimmering against the bright while light glowing from within. She knew exactly which one she needed. Her fingers shook as she turned each of them around, exposing the labels. After a few tries she found it. Written in Burnley’s own handwriting which said. ‘EMBR-STG2’.

Returning to Tristan, Ember fluffed up the pillows for him. “Okay Tristan, I want you to lay down there and hold onto the teddy bear. Don’t let go of him, no matter what.”

Tristan did as he was told and looked at her with completely innocent and trusting eyes. “Is this going to make things better? Will you be happy Emmie? I want you to smile again. I don’t like it when you are sad.”

Holding the syringe in her hand, Ember couldn’t stop her hand from shaking. She bit her lip. “You’re too little to understand what’s going to happen to you, but yes… it will make me happy. Father is going to see how clever I am, that I learned from him and I am going to take give back what was taken.”

“Okay. Emmie, can we go see mommy after this?”

Ember nodded and reached up to push some of the loose curls away from Tristan’s eyes. “Of course, we can. She’s going to be really surprised when she sees you again.” Handing Tristan the teddy bear, she watched him take hold and clutch it tightly to his chest. She lowered her voice. “Close your eyes little boy, keep them held shut so tight that you see the stars. Think about being outside, at night, back at home… eating cookies… laughing… feeling safe and warm.” Taking a deep breath, Ember held the syringe against Tristan’s neck. The tip of the needle scraped against his flesh and pricked the skin. A light bead of blood began to form there. Something in the back of her head screamed at her, begged her to stop and walk away, but her love for Burnley and desire to please him outweighed everything else. “I’m sorry.” She whispered to the little boy as she started to cry. Tristan opened his eyes and looked at her, just as she plunged the needle all the way into his neck. “CLOSE YOUR EYES!” Ember shouted at him. “CLOSE YOUR EYES, TRISTAN. DON’T LOOK AT ME, DON’T LOOK AT ME!”

Lying on the bed, Tristan’s tears spilled out onto the pillow as he clutched the blue teddy bear tight to his chest. “You lied to me Emmie. You said the teddy bear would keep monsters away. You ARE the monster! I hate you! I want to go back to mommy! I hate you; I hate you!”

Ember quickly stood up and ran for the exit. Without looking back, she squeezed through the opening between the massive steel doors and with all her strength pushed them back closed again. From inside the room, Tristan started screaming. It started off as a cry of desperation and panic, but then quickly changed to a wail of agony. Looking down at the empty syringe in her hand, Ember suddenly felt very nauseous. She closed her fingers around it and squeezed it so hard that the glass shattered. The tiny razor-sharp shards bit into her skin and small trickles of blood started to flow over her knuckles. The pain felt good and reassuring. From beyond the door, Tristan’s screaming became louder and louder, and soon Ember couldn’t drown it out anymore. Reaching up, she covered her ears with the palms of her hands, smearing blood across her face. Placing her back against the metal doors, she slowly started to slide down, closing her eyes and trying to block out the horrid sound from the room beyond. “I am not a monster.” Ember whispered to herself. “I’m NOT a monster! It’s NOT my fault! I HAD to do it!” Tristan’s screaming continued, and she started to thrust the back of her head against the doors; a futile effort to drown out the sound with even more pain. Thump, thump thump. Over and over she forced her skull harder into the metal. After a few moments, the screaming stopped. Ember took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

Standing directly in front of her, at the far end of the hall was the Shepherd of the Damned. He was surrounded by waves of darkness which swirled around him, rising on unseen currents and then falling back down in shapes that looked like black feathers. All the air seemed to be sucked out of her lungs as she stared at him in shock and awe, refusing to believe that he was there. Scurrying closer to the doors, trying to get away from this awful sight, she whimpered, seeing the look of complete and utter anger on his face. Scowling at her, the Shepherd held his place off in the distance and spoke to her commanding tone that went right through her. “Ember. What have you done?”

Now it was Ember's turn to scream.


End file.
